Decide and Conquer: Make Winning Decisions and Take Control of Your Life [Paperback]

Stephen P. Robbins (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131425013 | ISBN-13: 978-0131425019 | Publication Date: September 8, 2003 | Edition: 1

Decide & Conquer brings together all the practical skills you need to make the best possible decisions every day. This quick, concise book identifies every key obstacle to quality decision-making... and shows exactly how to overcome them. Discover how your personality impacts your decision-making... why instincts and experience can lead you astray... how to simplify complicated decisions without oversimplifying them... and much more. You'll use these techniques in your relationships, your finances, your career ... every day, everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Robbins, an academic, provides an everyman's guide to improving the choices that shape our lives, and offers tools for making better decisions. With tips, stories, and quizzes, the author explores the ways we make decisions, from critical to trivial choices, that affect everything we do at home and in the workplace. Who we become (or have become) is largely determined by the choices we make, and the author believes that much of what we call "luck" is really good decision making. The topics covered include establishing clear goals, understanding rationality, personality tests to provide insight into how individuals make decisions, tolerance for risk and its impact on decisions, controlling emotions, the tendency to be overconfident, and ideas for overcoming biases and errors. We can never be too accomplished at decision making, and Robbins' roadmap gives helpful instruction that will appeal to a wide range of library patrons. This excellent book provides valuable insight. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover

What should you wear today? How should you invest? Where should you live? Who should you marry? Your life is the sum of the decisions you make. Better decisions mean a better life. This concise book brings together all the skills you need to make the best possible decisions every day. Stephen P. Robbins identifies the major roadblocks that stand in the way of making high-quality decisions -- and shows you exactly how to overcome them. You'll discover what you can't learn from experience... when to settle for a "good enough" decision... why your instincts can lead you astray... the surprising ways your personality shapes your decision making ... how to avoid "hearing what you want to hear"... and why you might be seeing patterns that aren't there. Decide & Conquer is a quick, easy read that'll pay dividends every time you make a decision... from your most trivial day-to-day choices to the most critical decisions of your life.And it's amazingly easy to make better decisions... once you've learned how. Decide & Conquer will teach you.

Drawing on the world's best research, Stephen P. Robbins offers plain-English insights into why people make bad decisions -- and how to improve the process. You'll discover...

...why decisions can't always be rational -- and how to make them more rational

...how your personality shapes your decisions

...how to cut even the most complicated decisions down to size

...how to overcome common biases that lead to bad decisions

This isn't theory: it's reality. You'll use these techniques in your relationships, your finances, your career ... every day, everywhere.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (September 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131425013
• ISBN-13: 978-0131425019
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #365,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen P. Robbins (Ph.D., University of Arizona) is professor emeritus of management at San Diego State University and the world's best-selling textbook author in the areas of both management and organizational behavior. His books are used at more than a thousand U.S. colleges and universities and have been translated into 19 languages.

In Dr. Robbins' "other life," he participates in masters' track competitions. Since turning 50 in 1993, he has set numerous indoor and outdoor age-group world sprint records. He has won more than a dozen indoor and outdoor U.S. championships at 60m, 100m, 200m, and 400m, and won eleven gold medals at World Masters Track Championships. In 2005, Dr. Robbins was elected into the USA Masters' Track & Field Hall of Fame.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Written for people from all walks of life, January 14, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Decide and Conquer: Make Winning Decisions and Take Control of Your Life (Paperback)

Decide & Conquer: Make Winning Decisions And Take Control Of Your Life by management and organizational behavior expert Stephen P. Robbins (Professor Emeritus, San Diego State University) is an absolute "must-read" self-help book written for people from all walks of life. Decide & Conquer focuses specifically upon factors that impede the human decision-making process -- whether choosing what stock to buy, which career to pursue, how to invest for retirement, who to date or marry, or virtually any other crucial life choice. Professor Robbins clearly delineates common obstacles to sound decision-making, including the failure to realize that making no choice is a choice in itself to keep the status quo, overconfidence, inability to recognize sunk costs, and more. Decide & Conquer is superbly organized and presented guide which is extensively researched with a wealth of keen insights drawn from modern human psychology.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice guy... A nice book..., January 4, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Decide and Conquer: Make Winning Decisions and Take Control of Your Life (Paperback)

I took one of Dr. Robbins' management courses
at SDSU over a dozen years ago, and to this day
I'm still using the decision-making techniques
he presented, in my own life...

In person, at the podium, Dr. Robbins is warm,
bright and funny, and he gets his points across
with laser precision...

Happily, his writing style mirrors his speaking
style, and it makes for an enjoyable read...

I recommend this book to anyone who could use
an intelligent angel sitting on their shoulder...

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kudos from another former student, April 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Decide and Conquer: Make Winning Decisions and Take Control of Your Life (Paperback)

A very good book. Dr. Robbins does indeed write as well
as he speaks. This book would make a useful addition to your
"self-improvement" library. I highly recommend it.